morning, mj lee reduced the latest job numbers. melanie eversley on the pennsylvania voter i.d. lot. jessie jane duff discusses active military voting at home and abroad. "washington journal" is ♪ ♪ >> "the wall street journal" reports this morning -- the story notes that increase the number of volunteers working for the campaign. president obama stopped in virginia to highlight the new unemployment figure which dropped. speaking of the unemployment figure, 114 jobs were created

according to the department and not only can you comment on that new figure in our first 45 minutes but we also would like you to talk about your job status. did you gain a job or lose one? tellus kilobit about where you stand as far as jobs are concerned -- tell us a little bit about where you stand as far as jobs are concerned. the numbers are on your screen -- social media is available to you as well -- a look at some of the newspapers nationwide reflecting the number that was reported by the labor department.

if you take a look at some of the newspapers, they broke it down statistically what happened as far as the labor picture.

this is a breakdown from " the new york times" -- you can take a look at the demographics for unemployment -- that is some of the individual breakdowns from the labor picture yesterday. many comments are being made about the number itself.

this is "the washington post" -- this comes from the story you probably heard about jack welch yesterday. there is the math and statistics. we want to get your reaction. tell us your job status as well

as it currently stands. the phone numbers will be on your screen. you can also reach out via social media. can i ask your job status? caller: right now i am disabled. host: how long is that? . caller: one year. host: tell us a little bit about your current situation and your reaction to 7.8% unemployment figure. caller: i have three torn ligaments in my shoulder. host: are you getting disability. disability caller: yes. . host: what type of work do you do? are you pursuing some kind of work that does not require physical labor? caller: i am going to school. . host: for what? . caller: a want to be a technician. host: what type of technician?

caller: a mechanic. host: quaker town, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: glad to get through again. this has to do, when you talk about work or work ethic, today is the day that we set aside -- i called last year and talked to susan on october 6 last year. to date is set aside by congress and ronald reagan in 1983 to honor the largest minority group in this country, it is national german americans a day. i want to say hello to 60 million americans of german descent and work ethic. much of the industries from pennsylvania dutch country to minnesota involve them. there are many german companies

that have thrived in this country. host: what is your job caller: status currently unemployed six months. in construction. obama, in 2009, had the third highest legal immigration rate ever with 1.3 million immigrants. our legal immigration has not been tamped down at all. legal immigration has slowed down. it is interesting that we added three or 4 million people to our country probably in the last four years. in our history, whenever there was a depression, especially the great depression, we stop to immigration. we closed the borders. we have hundreds of thousands of people in bread lines and you

could that have extra people coming here. host: what caused you to not work in construction anymore? caller: it has to do with the area of illegal immigration -- of legal immigration. there is other work that have done. i am looking for other types of work and i will probably find something soon. whenever there -- we have had moratoriums on emigration when ever there was 23 million people out of work. host: new orleans, good morning. caller: high, i would like to say that i think this thing is absolutely ridiculous and overblown. these numbers are obviously a skewed because they are pulled and larger amounts of people who are not employed technically by

a corporation or something like that. so many people that i talked to -- i volunteered over this past year to get people out to register to vote no matter who they are voting for. a large number of people i spoke to talk about the jobs and lack of jobs. it is about personal accountability, finding a void in filling it, and not thinking of the old ways were you lost your job and you go look for another one. host: what is your story? caller: i'm from new orleans. after katrina, the tourism industry dropped. at first, i thought i would find a job. when i didn't, i created a job. i started my own talent

management company because that was an industry that had started to boom here. one year later, when that creating my own magazine. i'm actually doing well. i don't understand why people get stuck in the old ways. they don't realize that times are constantly changing. you have to constantly change with the times. host: what were some of the hurdles in reading the magazine an agency you created? caller: nothing other than my own need to be diligent and get set my goals and research and figure out how it is a need to go about creating my business. i researched what the likely sustainability of my business was like. i saw how it would be beneficial and how i would make it and not

just sit back and expected to be beneficial but actually be proactive and do my research and reach out to organizations are free. a lot of your research you can find on line. there are so many programs were you don't have to physically go into a business to get training and things like that. there are so many things available on-line that i feel like people do not capitalize on and that's why they are always complaining about not having anything. host: we will leave it there. comment on the figure but, if you would, tell us a little bit about your job status if it has changed for this year if you gained or lost a job. pick the line that best represents a new regionally.

facebook is available to you as well. we have about 10-15 comments so far this morning -- that is some of the examples to tell us your story about your job status at facebook.com/ cspan. michigan, good morning. caller: good morning, i'm self- employed and the work as a substitute teacher again. i had a permanent job with benefits and i traveled 60 miles one way so i could benefit my children with health care. i resigned in august of last year. when i look at education and

where i work in the division of the money that comes in, i think it is unfair oftentimes. i think we have taken on a lot of debt to supplement pensions in the public sector and the private sector. my brother works at gm and there is so much money for some people and not enough for others. i have applied for so many different positions. my degree is in social work and it is difficult. i have a master's and i don't know if i can take on any more student debt. i just don't make enough money to pay it back. host:, its debt? -- how much debt to dax caller: it's a lot, it is over $25,000. host: tells all about about full-time teaching jobs. what were you teaching?

caller: i was teaching pre-k autistic children and i enjoyed it very much. it was a very difficult work but it is no more difficult than some of the schools i have travelled to in northern michigan. if i go back to school, it would probably be a teacher but you have to wonder if you will find a job. substitute teaching does not pay well. some of the districts are very poor, like $2.50 for half a day and you cannot make a living bad day. if i did not feel so good doing it, i would not do it. host: what is the job interview situation like? caller: i just don't get them. my age is a factor, 55, and i go back to the early 1990's with my resume. i cannot figure it out. by not having any luck in that

regard. host: thanks for sharing. stockton, calif., you are next. caller: good morning. i agree with the job numbers. i think mitt romney is flip- floping on everything. i am disabled. imi dialysis patients. . if mitt romney becomes president, i will lose my medicare and i will eventually die because i cannot afford the treatments. the treatments run about $5,000 per treatment and that is $30,000 total and i cannot afford it on vouchers. i think his plan is to give to

the rich and i think anyone that is on welfare or social security should vote for obama because he is looking out for the middle- class. host: what did you do before you were disabled? caller: i am a carpenter. host: is that how you became disabled? caller: no, i have chronic high blood pressure and went to various doctors and i think the system is corrupt because you have doctors that just treat you with test madison and my blood pressure -- with test medicine and my blood pressure just went up for two years and i think it could have been avoided if the doctors had really been concerned about my health. host: when you see a number like 7.8% for unemployment, what do you think? caller: it is encouraging.

i was listening to mitt romney before "washington journal" and everything he said was so contradictory to what he said one month ago. he said he did not even care about the poor people. he said it was not his job to worry about them and now he has embraced them. the voting public is more intelligent than that. if you listen to the tapes over the last 80 months, you'll find that mitt romney does not care about us. host: if you wanted to take look at things the candidates have said over the campaign, go to our website c-span.org. that is where you can find information as far as speeches made during the campaign but you can also access our video library which gives you access

to everything we taken as far as al -- as far as candidates are concerned. "the wall street journal" says -- in "the new york times" --

also, at the events this year, mitt romney in virginia, an appearance by big bird as someone in cost of was holding a sign that said "crack down on wall street, not sesame street." victor is up next from oregon city oregon. what about your job status? caller: i have been unemployed for over two years now. i previously worked in the oil industry since 1979. i worked two years ago in nevada doing in geothermal

wells. from that status, i got laid off from that position. i have been paying attention to where the jobs are, where the money is. and my home town in oregon city, i talked to people who tell me i'm overqualified and have made too much money and i would not be happy with a job status that i am applying for. i have been blessed now. i am seeking a job the same company since june of this year. now i will be going to work in north dakota which is 1,300 miles from my home town. i am going to be doing fluid recovery in the oil wells.

unemploymenthat dropped to 7.8%, for example, what people don't understand is that not everybody that applies for unemployment is getting unemployment anymore. in my case, i drew unemployment for over two years. my status now is still unemployed. i am no longer collecting. people are not collecting unemployment because they are no longer eligible. that's part of the drop. host: let me ask a question about the new job you have. you said you went back to the same firm to get the job you want. caller: yes, i have been on that job, i have never worked this

job before. i have the technology and experience they are seeking. after those people since june of this year -- i have been after these people since june of next year and i will start this week. i spent probably close to $1,400 to go to a job interview in north dakota. i was there for half an hour for the job interview. it cost me $1,400 round trip to go there to seek out this job. host: next up is savannah, georgia. caller: 94 cspan. i am employed. i'm from savannah, georgia. i was working in construction.

the building industry went down. i looked at other options. in savannah, we have a great deal of the employment in transportation, import/export business, containers. it is booming and truck drivers are needed. in this area. i think that many people who have been unemployed in certain industries have to look at other ways to get jobs that are available. there are a lot of other jobs available. host: is it hard to get out one mindset of being in one career and going to another? caller: i have a c.l. license to be able to be in the industry i was in. i was prepared because i did not know how long it would last. i made sure i had it. host: from the front page of

"the financial times" -- loretta from denver, colorado, good morning. caller: i wanted to say that i am employed and i work in the medicaid, medicare business for the county of denver. the job rate is correct. there is no reason to question it now. it makes obama look good.

that's all i wanted to say. host: tell us about the type of work you do. caller: i process long-term medicare and medicaid applications for people 60 and older. i approve and deny applications. host: do you feel secure about what you do and where you work? caller: yes. we have to take furlough days. we have five days we take per year so we cannot lay off people so that is good. host: that is whenever you want to use them to save the company money? caller: yes. host: how do others react to that? caller: everybody is supportive. we do what we can to keep everybody working. host: that is loretta.

what is it like in your state and city? caller: the traffic was really bad this week. we were happy to have the debate at the university of denver. host: that is loretta from denver, colorado. the unemployment figure is at 7.8% but we want to hear about your job status and talk to us about how your employment stands today. the sickle on one of the appropriate lines -- -- give us a call on one of the appropriate lines -- this week on "newsmakers," we talked about the house of representatives. we talked with representatives steve israel. we talked about the new jobs numbers and the presidential debate. [video clip] i can't give you the empirical

evidence that republicans ending medicare to fund millionaires has helped democrats across the board. governor romney chose paul ryan as his running mate on october 11 -- beef -- on august 11. you look at the congressional bellpull in the country, it was pretty much tied. generics were very tight. after august 11, when governor robin decided to double down on republican plan to end medicare and fund tax cuts for millionaire and big oil companies, the generics began to spread. instead of being in a neutral environment, we were up 1, 2, 3, and when todd aiken express those horrific thoughts about legitimacy to forms of rape, the

generics widened even more. when the republican or romping in the sea of galilee, the generics spread even more. these people have breweries that would end of medicare to fund -- these people have priorities that would end medicare. in august, the nbc/ "wall street journal"generic said it was up four. there is a direct correlation between generics and our ability to win back the house and right now is going in the right direction. host: you could hear more from that interview tomorrow at 10:00 in the morning on this network. vincent from detroit, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning, i started

new job monday. host: congratulations. caller: i was previously working part-time in retail but prior to that i was in the health field and the hospital were that close. i was out of work for eight months and applied for hundreds of jobs. i just got a job so i believe the economy is getting better. host: you start a job on monday? what kind of industry? caller: it will be in health care. host: what does that mean? caller: where they deliver medical supplies and you take them to the hospital for distribution and delivery. host: what kind of money we make now compared to what you made in the past? caller: is not a pay cut but it is safe -- it is not a big pay cut, but it is a pay cut. host: so it's full-time work?

caller: yes. host: what are the benefits like? caller: decent. host: you start monday -- john, tallahassee, florida is up next, hello. caller: hello, how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: when you take all the jobs overseas, we cannot go overseas and work. that means someone will be unemployed. i think we need to make a demand of the entire planet and work towards creating the supply. i also think they should focus more on helping the small businesses -- financing small businesses which is creating more jobs than big business.

i also would like to say that there is a lot of repetition in this universe. all the seasons repeat themselves every year. it is impossible to find anything that does not have the same basic repetition. that proves what goes around comes around. host: how does that apply to what we're talking about? caller: we must treat each other fair in order for fairness to come back. you cannot go against universal principles to make progress. host: when you look at the

breakdown of types of jobs that saw growth and a reflection of the numbers released yesterday, the breakdown in "the wall street journal" said there was an increase in business services and an increase in education health services -- that is a little bit of a breakdown as far as work is concerned. those numbers reflect changes since 2001. bill, myrtle beach, south carolina, good morning. caller: good morning, it is awesome to talk to you. the problem in myrtle beach is we have plenty of work and the

last time you folks had june demand on there and i was able to talk with him and he got nothing done. we have a very corrupt chamber of commerce here. we have a lot of construction work on the roads, on the highway is just out in front of my house. the problem we have is that these people refuse -- i am laid off and i went deliberately to get a job application and they refused to give me one. that is with southern asphalt. the people actually doing the job are brazilians brought in here. they are not illegal. they've got work visas but you cannot tell me that they cannot find people to do the work. this is what the corrupt politicians spew in this town. it is horrible here. every spring, the chamber will run this thing on the local tv

station saying that the hotel business cannot find employees so i have to get people from out of the country and stuff like this. it is crazy. there is plenty of people right here the myrtle beach area who are willing and want to work. we are refused to work. we've got the obama money here on the highway. the company doing the work refuses to hire us. they are adding a big addition onto our airport but the construction company doing it will not let anybody have the jobs. host: did they give specific reasons why? caller: they say we don't need anybody now. host: which translates how to you? caller: it is frustrating. you make the effort to go to the unemployment office and you do your job searches and then you go out and check on these jobs

and whether that job is selling sunglasses at a mall and even there, the malls are the same deal. i could not get a job at a mall selling sunglasses because i am not a beautiful person. they don't want my kind of person. they get these beautiful little israeli people to come in here or these russians. it is crazy. host: because myrtle beach is a resort area, is there other type of work you can do? caller: it is a very growing area. we have a fast-growing population here. it is not only seasonal. don't be fooled by that illusion. we have all kinds of things here that go on in the wintertime as well, construction, a lot of these places are getting ready for the next season. they are hiring painters and plumbers but they are not hiring americans. they are hiring anybody they can pay minimum wage -- $6-$7 per

hour. host: good morning. caller: good morning, i just wanted to mention i moved to phoenix two years ago in august of 2010 and it took me approximately three months to find a position. since then, i have actually had four different job opportunities that were simultaneously and all of them were exceptional positions. i ended up taking one with the state of arizona, working in the medicaid and medicare program. i think the unemployment drop is accurate just for my overall experience of living in phoenix for the last two years. i have absolutely no difficulty finding a position down here and

they are professional job opportunities. host: because it is specialized? are there other kind of trends? caller: in the areas i have worked in, they were primarily with grant research with minorities. before that, it was working in the public sector looking at prevention strategies with cdc grants. most of it now is health care. i have been in the health-care area for about 12 years now but i really have not seen any discrepancies in terms of friends and family here that have looked for jobs and were not able to find a decent job. the pay is really good as well.

benefits are great. i have no complaints. host: we have a few more minutes with this topic but we want to talk about the unemployment rate. we also want to talk about your job status.

more is available at their website. ohio, caller:wytcliff is 20 miles east of cleveland. host: monday on this program, we will base our show from ohio state university. we will take a look at issues in ohio and the economics and the larger context of the presidential election but go ahead -- caller: the unemployment drop of 7.8% is wonderful. however, i think it is deceiving. like myself and quite a few other people, i was on unemployment. i am no longer receiving unemployment because it ran out. i am working now.

i am working in the mortgage industry which i was laid off from. in manufacturing, there are ample amounts of manufacturing positions available. i'm no longer on unemployment. i was working in manufacturing and receiving food stamps because of the amount they are paid in that sector. host: what type of manufacturing is it to tex? caller: it is making parts for cars. host: tells about the physical aspect of the job. caller: the hours are wonderful, it is a full-time position. the job itself is the assembly o-rings on pistons for engines for cars and shipping them out. making $9 per hour and receiving

food stamps and i could barely make my bills. host: a larger the company is it? caller: it is a small company. host: from twitter -- spencer, okla., good morning. caller: good morning. i am currently unemployed. i worked for a company that works for the government. we have been told we would be losing our contract on january 27. they say the unemployment rate in oklahoma is pretty good and i hope so because i will be looking for a job in january. host: what type of work do you do? caller: we basically collect -- we make sure that insurance companies reimburse the government for accident claims. host: so it is health-related.

caller: yes. host: now that you know your contract will not be renewed, tell us about what you are doing in the meantime. caller: i will sign up for some additional training at our local community college to improve my computer skills and hopefully find another government job. with the unemployment rate at 7.8% of which i believe is correct, i don't think i will have a problem. host: to many people work in your field? caller: i have worked in the field for the last 20 years with medicare processing. host: what about others you associate with? what does the work better look like for them? are there those unemployed and looking for work? what about your circle of friends and further than that? caller: the people that i know

generally can find employment. it may not be the job they want or pay like last jobs but it's pretty much seems to be positive right here in oklahoma. host: the world section of "the washington post" --

that is an associated press story you can find in "the washington post." irving, texas, hello. caller: morning. nice to talk to you and thank you for cspan. i'm calling in regards to my job status. please bear with me. i had a debilitating stroke in 2009. i am going through rehabilitation. my juppe called me -- my job

called me and said my job and communications was out. i was not able to completely rehabilitate. i am among the 47% of the people that mitt romney calls losers. i worked my entire life, just had a stroke. i'm going to go back to school now and become a guidance counselor. hopefully i could do that in a motorized wheelchair. host: why did you pick that industry? caller: i am 49 years old. as a young teenager, i have had my experiences.

i was on drugs but i am no longer on drugs. from a teenager, it can affect your whole life if you make bad choices. i have made mistakes in my latest 20's and early 20's. primarily, i was a marijuana smoker. host: if you are a drug counselor, do you think you will find sustainable unemployment -- sustainable on employment -- stake -- sustainable employment? caller: i believe so. i will take some courses. i want to learn how to speak spanish. that way i will be able to communicate with people who are

hispanic. i believe i can give back to society. i have too much life left to live. host: thank you for college ensuring my story. -- thank you for calling and sharing your story. caller: good morning. i was in the building trade so i have been retired since 20003 as a sheet metal worker. in air-conditioning. i did installation and fabrication of equipment. it was a good job. some of us that are dependent and who are currently retired people with benefits are affected by this as well. in the area where i work,

unemployment was a normal thing off and on. 2 + e 1990's, we exceeded years out of work for many of the members. the hopelessness and the psychology of all this is that it is devastating. i don't have any answers for this but i learned to hustle and take whatever lesser paying jobs i could many people did not want to. we were waiting for the original pay rate for our skills while sliding downhill. i just had to go back to work. regardless of money. i am so grateful with any dynamic for benefits or

anything. host: was your reaction to the 7.8% figure? caller: i think that is really good. it brings home that we are not receiving the hope that we're kind of neglected as a society. everybody is fighting what to do about the work and the economy and people are suffering psychologically and emotionally because it seems both parties, one in particular, it is almost like a battle to get rid of one person. nothing is coordinated. as a retiree, i cannot imagine a time like this. my wife and i are doing well but we have to address and be a little bit more cautious about our decisions. host: thanks to all of you who called in and participated. we'll continue our conversation,

taking a look at the unemployment figure. mj lee from political will join us. we will be joined by melanie eversley later. you probably heard what happened in pennsylvania regarding their voter i.d. law and we will talk to her about that. we also want to take time to let you know that on our other channels on the weekend, book- tv and american history tv, we look at cities across the united states. our focus this time around is augusta, maine. not only do you get a sense of meeting the people and learning about individual cities and what makes them interesting, here is a little bit of a preview from tonight's program. [video clip] >> this is the first parish church in brunswick, maine.

it is significant to the story of a uncle tom's cabin. in many ways, the story began here. it is here in pew #23 that harriet beecher stowe, by her account, saw the vision of uncle tom being whipped to to death. he is the title character, the hero of her 1852 novel," uncle tom's cabin." the story is that there is -- there was a slave, a good slave, sold by his first kind owner, mr. shelby, and he sold him to pay debts on his plantation through a series of misadventures, you might say, he ends up in the hands of a very unruly owner who is so irritated by him and his goodness that he

whips him to death. this is the scene out of which the entire novel gross. harriet beecher stowe came from a group very religious family located in ohio where she grew up. they were a highly religious family and they were an anti- slavery family. she was married to calvin stowe who was a theology professor, a doctor of divinity, and her whole understanding of the spiritual world in which she lived was dictated by god, by the hand of god. she often said that it was not her who wrote "uncle tom's cabin." it was the hand of god or of this novel. >> campaign 2012 provides a live and on demand coverage of all

e presidential and vice- presidential debate. it is the only place where you will see our live coverage behind the scenes sights and sounds before and after the debate. each the big question is available as a separate clip. you can read streaming tweets from political reporters and other reactions at campaign 2012 debate hub. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us for the discussion on the unemployment rate is mj lee. guest: thanks for having me. host: can you tell us how we got to this figure? guest: the economy added 114,000 jobs in september and that brought the unemployment rate down from 8.1% back in august down to 7.8%.

that is a big drop compared to previous months. i think there is confusion about how we got there when 114,000 is really not a spectacular number. i think the july and august revisions were revised up in september and added 80,000 jobs. i think that had a lot to do what you saw the big drop. host: july and august had more jobs created than the number we saw? guest: exactly, we know that july and august actually added 40,000 jobs than was previously reported. host: was this expected as far as the amount of the drop? guest: when we get the revisions

one or two months later, we always can sort of impact the current month's numbers in a way that can be confusing to people. if the number is revised up, back and have a positive impact. if it is revised down, that could have a negative effect. host: if you want to join us for our continuing conversation, the number is on your screen -- the papers make notice of two surveys that are done in calculating these figures. one talks to households and one talk to employers. can you break down how that works? guest: when we hear about how many jobs are added, that comes from a survey of businesses. that tends to be a little less volatile than the survey taken

of households which measures the unemployment rate. i think the unemployment rate is typically considered more of a volatile number than the number you will see making headlines. the household survey shows 800,000 jobs were added. you can see the difference between the 800,000 jobs that were added verses the 114,000 jobs which the business survey shows. there is a big discrepancy there. host: about 66,000 households took the survey. how does that translate? guest: in september, it is interesting we saw a big jump in the number of part-time jobs added to the economy. it went from 8 million -8.6 million which means 600,000 people got part-time jobs as a

result of the economy. that means it is involuntary. people took a part-time job because they could not get full- time jobs or their hours rifle time a job or cut down. we are into october, the holiday season is coming up and the part-time jobs number often increases when we get to the holiday season. host: does the september number mean more than the other months of the year? guest: it absolutely does because we are on a political threshold that president obama has been struggling to get over to the other side. when the headlines and every newspaper reads that we are no longer above 8% unemployment, the political implications are greater than what this means in terms of the economy. host: what are the industries that saw the biggest boost from

this? guest: hospitality and warehousing added jobs. we did not see any huge jump up or down and other industries. host: when economists look at the numbers, are we seeing a trend or do we not know yet ? guest: economists generally say this has been a positive trend. the one reason september numbers have been used by economists is that usually when the work force, the size of the work force, increases, that justifies that people are out looking for work and it means that people may be have not given up. that has been the case in the previous month but in september, we saw about the labor market

grew a lot of people entered the job market and thought they could find a job now, maybe a part-time job. the fact that the unemployment rate dropped despite the fact that labour market grew, that was seen as a positive sign. host: to your calls, our first one from orlando, fla., on a republican line. caller: good morning, everybody. i think you made a good point but overall, particularly democrats, will cling to the unemployment rate finally being below 8%. we lost 16,000 manufacturing jobs, if you look at the numbers. also, the fact that there are people who don't get counted on this and the underemployment rate is still 14.2%.

guest: what you point out about the manufacturing sector is pretty interesting. you are right that the manufacturing sector lost 16,000 jobs in september. there's something about the manufacturing sector that has a very political tone because it affects many jobs located in the midwest. there are a lot the auto industry is counted as part of the manufacturing industry. when the jobs numbers came out, mitt romney released a statement and said the president also economic recovery is not a recovery. it is not working. he made sure to mention the drop in manufacturing jobs. the president has taken of 600,000 manufacturing jobs. that strikes a chord with people

when they fear -- hear the presidential candidates say the manufacturing sector has not gone well under the current president. that is not the best news for the president. caller: good morning. i am an unemployed person, but i hope not for long. i was working in afghanistan. my contract concluded. now i am back here in fairfax, virginia hoping to be picked up by a new firm. there is a great deal of work in afghanistan for civilian contractors with all kinds of skills sets. i encourage anybody do has a skill that is in demand to see about getting work over there. the last 8 years, i have been working in iraq and afghanistan on various military projects. i would like to be there and be the last person to turn off the

lights in 2014. guest: i think it is great you are going to start looking for a job here. the fact that you are working in afghanistan and in iraq -- on this, the wars are winding down and this is a politically charged issue. how many weeks ago was it that mitt romney was in so much trouble for not talking about veterans and not mentioning the afghanistan war at the republican convention in tampa? it is also interesting that the sense of hope you mentioned -- you are open to a buy at least a part-time job or a full-time job. -- find at least a part-time job or a full-time job. these are the months where people are wanting to hire part- time employees to make up for the extra work there will be for the holiday season. host: 44,000 jobs bump in the

health-care industry according to the bureau of labor statistics. as our guest minted at our caller mentioned, a drop in manufacturing. there is a question about explaining the criteria that the department of labor uses statistics -- department of labor uses as statistics. guest: people can make a lot of the unemployment rate in one way. on the other side, there will be people who can stand it the other way. people who have been employed for a certain amount of time have to cross the threshold in terms of how long you have been employed. it is important to talk about how they count the number of people who are looking for jobs.

this also accounts for a wide range of people, people who have had two, three, five interviews and have made phone calls for a job. that comes as someone who has entered the labor force. if you have reached out to a former employer asking if they are hiring again, that haunts as someone who is looking for a job. -- calories as someone looking for a job. host: does the bureau of labor statistics get politicized? guest: jack welch tweeted after the numbers came out suggesting the obama administration had something to do with cooking the numbers because they were so favorable. as you know, the reaction to the president to debate that

happened this week has been more positive for raleigh and a little more negative for the president -- romney and a little more negative for the president. is it possible? it seems so ironic and well timed at the unemployment rate has dropped so favorably for the present one month before election day. is there any w the bureau of labor statistics could have tweaked the numbers? we had labor secretary hilda solis on cnbc rejecting this. she says, i have the highest respect for the people who work at the bureau of labor statistics. this is ludicrous, the charges that are coming about the numbers being manipulated. there is no serious economists who would take these charges seriously. caller: good morning. i kept hearing in the media that regardless of who is president, 20 million jobs would be created

over the next 10 years. i took time this morning to look it up. it also states that construction will not catch up in the next 10 years. i also have to take a look at this and feel that president obama's policies have to be contributing to this -- these increase jobs in the future. thank you. guest: thank you. i think that is absolutely right. at least for the president and the president's campaign staffers in chicago, this month's numbers did give them a chance to stand to the republican critics out there, including presidential candidate mitt romney, you have been criticizing us for the last few years and for the last few months. the jobless rate goes from 8.1% to 7.8% gives the president a

better footing with telling the people that all of the investments may in the last -- made in the last few years are working. we have come to bank far to turn back now. host: -- we have come too far to turn back now? host: a question says is it possible to read the numbers? this is suspicious. guest: i, personally, do not think this is possible. most economists and economists who have been around for a long time would agree with me that this is not something that is possible. as i mentioned, we had labor

secretary hilda solis say this is a ludicrous charge. this so-called conspiracy theory or this true author -- truther movement says that it is not possible for the jobless rate to have fallen that much in the month of september. that goes to show how important the economy and jobs and how center and a, this issue has been. there are many other issues that president obama and mitt romney are going to be debating. we have done she more debates left. at the end of the day, the person who comes out as the candidate most able to get america back on track in terms of jobs and getting people back to work, that candidate has the biggest advantage. on friday with the jobs number,

present, we gained some of that advantage. i will not say the september numbers will be a game changer. but i do think we have some good news for the president. host: we are looking at the jobs figures that came out yesterday. we hear from the candidates who spoke yesterday. here is governor romney talking about the jobs numbers released. [video clip] >> there was a report that came out on jobs. there were fewer jobs created this month that last month. the unemployment rate has come down slowly, but it has come down. it is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. if you just drop out of the work force and say, i cannot go back to work, i will stay home. you are no longer part of the employment statistics. it's the same share of people

were participating in the workforce today -- if he san share of's people were participating in the workforce today as -- the same share of people were participating in the workforce today as they were when president obama were elected, the unemployment rate would be 11%. guest: the president would be the first person to say job growth has not been fast enough. even when he gets good news like the jobless rate dropping from 8.1% to 7.8%, the president will be cautious in not playing that out to bank -- too much. he said, i will not top down the economy -- talk down the economy to gain political points. the recession we went through

and the financial meltdown -- in every sector of the country, people are feeling that. we still have years to go before we can really see if job growth has been positive. if the president when banks a second term, he second term -- wins a second term, the second term will be defined by how the economy does. if ann romney -- mitt romney wins, he has promised to create 12 million jobs in his first term. if he does get to the white house, especially for people in the media, we will be checking to see if he is able to live up to that promise. host: next is michelle on the republican line from alabama. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i do not believe is jobs number israel. -- is real. my brother-in-law has been on unemployment for a year. he had to get off of that, not because of a job. because of other reasons. he is no longer collecting unemployment. my husband has been looking for a job almost one year. he is unable to find a steady job. when the jobs number, 7.8%, can mean full-time and better paying jobs that are not seasonal -- as many are -- there will be a lot of part-time jobs because the holidays are coming. there could be better jobs, full-time jobs, permanent jobs at the rate of 7.8%, i would agree it is getting better.

7.8% does not represent that. i believe we need to elect mitt romney. he has created jobs in the past. i believe he will do so again. host: what about the type of jobs being created? guest: he skepticism she feels about the 7.8% number -- is it real or not? overall, the big headlines that were made yesterday and today about the unemployment rate no longer being in the a% this range was great. to have callers -- 8% range was great. to have color saying, i do not know if this is real because i have -- the caller same, i do not know if this is real because i have a family member who is unemployed. many americans in that situation might pick up a newspaper and

see that this is supposed to be good news for the president, but feel like this does not been good news for you. that is a prevailing sentiment that is still out there in the country and something that the president and mitt romney are going to discuss and talk about as they campaign over these last few weeks that we have until election day. host: in writing up the report, it says the number of new jobs created in august was revised up 142,000. the figure was revised up to 181,000 from 141,000. the labor market has not improved fast enough to provide jobs for the americans who want jobs. many people can only find part- time work or have no job at all. guest: there are plenty of people who are unemployed. the revisions helped for the

july and august numbers. the two bus togethe with revisions up words was good news. the best be two months together with revisions up words -- the two must together with revisions upwards as good news. we cannot say it is a true measure of how the economy is doing. these figures fluctuate and they can be volatile. the numbers may not be totally representative of the job situation. host: of 15 more minutes with our guests. -- about 15 more minutes with our guest. caller: we help the physically and mentally disabled with their

daily needs that they would not be able to do without us. we were told the other day that there would be some changes coming the first of the year. most of us are going to lose our jobs because the governor is going to opt out of obamacare and go with the state option if i understood it correctly. it means they will be bringing in an hiring their own new workers. most of us will be out of a job. it is going to be really hard because a lot of these people who are disabled need: care, bathing, dressing. that will be hard on them also, to adjust to somebody knew coming in and for us who are going to lose our jobs. guest: you are not alone in having a feeling of uncertainty about what can happen. if the president loses and there is a new administration, a new

president, there are many issues in which the people believe mitt romney taking the white house could bring a lot of changes through. you mentioned appealing president obama's health care reform law. that is something that will continue to be hotly debated. we have two more debates left. there is a lot of uncertainty about not only what obamas's second term will look like, but what a mitt romney first term will look like as he takes the white house in november. host: an e-mail sent from ohio. isn't the question of wages more important than jobs? the person making minimum wage is no better off and someone receiving welfare. to the point about wages, what do we find out there from the release of the report? guest: i do not know the exact details of the report in terms

of wages going up or down. he makes a good point. wages are important. welfare is something that president obama and mitt romney have been trading barbs over as to whether the president is someone capable of turning this country into a place where people do not have to rely so much on government subsidies because they are out of work. i think that issue is very politically charged and we will see it debated in the coming weeks. host: christopher in arkansas on the independent line. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am an american black man, one of the 47%. i heard one republicans say i

was a parasite. i see this country as a glass of water half full and half empty. i watched the debate, too. i do not think i saw a debate. what i saw i did not like. host: what do you think of the president's jobs numbers? caller: if the president were fixing the jobs numbers, he would have been smart enough to start two months ago fixing them. host: can we see any relation to jobs numbers and the policies of the president hu? guest: for african americans, the unemployment rate was 13.4%. for hispanics, it was 10%. compare that to the unemployment rate for whites, which was 7%.

it declined a little bit. it was the only break of the three deaths saw a slight decline in september. the issue of the unemployment rate -- it was the only rate of the three that sought a slight decline. that is something the president will have to address. the immigration issue is something that speaks loudly too many minorities. the president will have work to do in terms of committing -- convincing certain races that he is looking out for them and he is trying to put policies in place that will help them. host: we are talking about the numbers yesterday. here is the president. [video clip] >> there are too many middle- class families who are struggling to pay the bills. they were struggling before. an excuse tois not talk down the economy to score a

few political points. it is a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. host: his is ed from philadelphia on the republican line. caller: i have the company and i employ 28 people. i had a meeting with my employees friday. i told them, if this president gets reelected, i will close the doors and i will retire. i own a house in the caribbean. i am doing well financially. there are employees who have obamas stickers. you have to send your resume to washington. i am the mean guy. i am tired of it. i will retire and you can fend

for yourself. if he does not, fine. i will keep my doors open. host: why would you close your doors it because it is reelected specifically? caller: if he did this in the first four years, what you think will happen the second four here's? -- years? host: can i ask what business you are in? caller: heating and air conditioning. the epa is coming down on me. we have no gas and oil else. it is hard hit it is not working anymore. it is too much paperwork. host: in response? guest: many people in this country feel the same way that you do, ed.

when it comes to regulations, that is an interesting point. there are many critics of the president who say that the president has put in too many policies that try to over regulate businesses and there is too much red tape for business to handle and it is too burdensome for them. i know the present and mitt romney have gone over the issue of the dodd-frank wall street regulation and reform. in many sectors, a lot of people will be affected by the new policies of the president put in place in his first term. the question going forward will be, if mitt romney wins, how many actions is he going to take to take back our roll back some of the policies the president has put in place? i will talk a little more about dodd-frank because that is an area that i cover as a finance reported.

the fact that the republican candidate has been going out there and same for a while, i have plans to repeal the dodd- frank wall street regulation law -- a lot of republicans on capitol hill say repealing dodd- frank is not a reasonable or possible thing. the strong language mitt romney has used, going after the wall street regulation laws is another reminder of how ann romney and president obama -- mitt romney and president obama are coming from opposite ends on the role of government and how much government should participate in terms of regulating business and people's lives. host: there is a story about consumer credit. when it comes to consumer borrowing, it increased $8.30 billion in july. the july consumer borrowing had

fallen for the first time in nearly a year. guest: consumer borrowing is another sign of whether the economy is picking up. when people borrow money and spend money, this is an indication of what the people feel like they have the extra cash in their pockets to go out and spend. just last month, or a few weeks ago, we had the federal reserve announced qe 3, the quantitative easing where it comes back to cash into the economy in hopes to bring down -- pumps extra cash into the economy in the hopes of bringing down the interest rates. that was a step that was widely criticized by many republicans. the that has become the center of people's conversations. host: he talked about qe 3 and

said, is that causing the economy to look better? guest: there are many questions about what quantities in the us for the economy. some will say the fed has been playing too big of a role trying to put money into the economy. there are many people are not happy about qe 3. maybe qe 1, maybe qe 2, but the effect of quantitative easing lessons. with qe 3, we saw the stock markets rally in little bit. the positive effect with qe 3 was considered to be a little bit less dramatic than with the first and second rounds. it is interesting and fascinating how much of a politicized figure ben bernanke has become, the chairman of the sad for all of the actions he has taken -- become, the

chairman of the fed, for all the actions he has taken. host: from kentucky, this is dave. caller: i want to comment to the gentleman talking about closing his door. i am a heavy equipment operator. if the epa is coming down on him, he made it clear that he is wealthy. if he follows the rules, you cannot get find. i have been in construction all my life. i have had three different jobs in the past year. each one of them has been a step up. there are people hiring out there. they are still looking for employees. my fiancee justice finished school. we moved and that is one reason

why we changed -- i changed jobs. she is out of school and she has had numerous job offers. host: caller, thank you. you are breaking up. guest: i had some trouble hearing, but i think the caller was talking about the epa and the regulations coming out of the epa and how they are negatively affecting his job. the issue of government regulations is something that the president and ann romney have -- and mitt romney have butted heads on. it will be interesting to see if ann romney takes the white house. -- mitt romney takes the white house. there is a contrast as to how much they will do to get rid of

certain departments, certain agencies in the government that are unnecessary. certainly, with the general election, that will be an issue that the two candidates are going to fight over. host: one more call from chattanooga, tennessee. mark on our independent line. caller: how did they come up with the number 7.8% when it was 8.1%? in reality, it is probably 15%. they never provide that sort figures and they never describe what jobs were created. did they create 1000 jobs at mcdonald's and 10,000 jobs at home depot? they never disclosed that. i question their figures. i wonder if the government -- if the president can create any kind of job other than a job that point guns at people or

other jobs where they send out agents to people who are collecting rainwater on their land. guest: he mentioned that the government never really release the facts on the numbers on how they reached the jobless rate. if you go to the bureau of labor statistics website, you will see all of the figures there. you will probably see more numbers then you would ever want to read on a nice saturday morning like this. if you go to the web site, the numbers are actually there. it is complicated how the 7.8% unemployment rate is reached. it is hard to believe how the number would have jumped from 8.1% in august to 7.8% in september.

we found out there were some 80,000 or more jobs created in two months that were not counted. that can positively impact jobs numbers. the september numbers, bls reported about 114,000 jobs were created. but that in addition to the 80,000 or more jobs from the previous month will have an effect in burn down the jobless rate. host: how long will we have before we find a provision? guest: it takes a month or two. every couple of months they will say that the numbers from the previous month were revised up or down.

we will have them coming out before election day in november. and we will see what the october jobs numbers will look like. that will have a big impact in terms of what the president can say and what mitt romney can say in return about the state of the economy. host: mj lee from the politico to talk about this current jobs numbers. coming up, melanie eversley. and then later, jesse james out to talk about military voting. -- jesse jane duff to talk about military voting. we will come right back. >> here is a look at some books that are being published this

week. in a "there was a country," ch right about civil war. and larry bowman in at the sumwalt writes about how wrong -- admiral zumwalt.

look for these titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for the authors in the near future on both tv and at booktv.org. >> this month as the president of candidates debate, we are asking middle and high school students to send a message to the president as part of the studentcam video competition. in a short video, students will answer the question what the most important issue is in the campaign for 2013.

it is open for students' grades 6-12. for complete details and rules, go online to studentcam.org. >> washington journal continues. host: in the segment we will talk about variety. our guest, melanie eversley joins us from new york. welcome. guest: thank you. host: we invited to specifically to talk about what has been happening in pennsylvania. what happened in that state concerning voter i.d.? guest: essentially, pennsylvania was a number of of states -- was one of a number of states across the country attempting to pass legislation that would require would-be voters to produce some form of photo identification

when they wanted to vote. initially, a state judge approved obama, -- approved the law, but it was appealed and a judge took a look at and determine that not enough pennsylvanian were obtaining the ids they would need in order to vote. he said, let's just tabled as for the upcoming presidential election and we will take a look for next year. december 13, i think, is the next court session that it will have to examine it. for now, there is no voter i.d. lot in place for the november election. host: what led to the law coming into place in the first place? guest: a number of laws have been proposed across the country. the folks proposing to maintain that these sorts of laws are necessary in order to prevent

voter fraud, voter identity theft. and without any kind of voter i.d. law, people can presumably vote with a utility bill, border registration card, border -- and voter -- a voter registration card. voter i.d. laws make it so you have to have friday to cast a ballot. there are different laws and they are divided up into strict laws and non-strict laws. with strict laws, you have to have either a photo i.d. or in non-frodo id in order to cast a ballot. -- or a non-photo id in order to cast a ballot. or you have to produce it within the next few days after voting. with non-trip, you do not have this kind of strict requirements. a poll worker that knows you can

guard for you. there are different criteria in place in order to be able to vote if you do not have the idps -- the id. basically, the argument is that it prevents a voter fraud and voter identity theft. host: from the "washington post" with strict letter of the laws, kan., a florida and georgia. ... kansas, tennessee and georgia. most states are covered by non- photo id and most aren't requiring identification laws. guest: before the 2008 election, the laws were not as stringent than they were not as numerous. after the 2008 election, there

seemed to be a wave of republican-controlled state legislatures pushing forth some of these laws. it seems to have evolved, in fact, into a partisan issue. there are some folks watching the whole debate that say before 2008, it was not a partisan issue. you had republicans and democrats on either side of the issue. now our it has seemed to have evolved into a partisan debate. you have republican controlled legislature's proposing these bills. in the cases where the bills are signed, most often, it is a republican governor. it's in the cases where the laws have been vetoed by the governor, in most cases it is a democratic governor that has done that. it has seemed to have evolved into a partisan battle. host: 4 states that do not require frodo, identification

tomorrow and at least lose -- require photo identification, or at least loose on those laws, how do they require you to prove you are who you are? guest: if you can show up a utility bill or something with your name on it, but it does seem as the years go on, there are fewer and fewer states with nothing in place. and right now, the numbers seem to be changing with the legal challenges, and then you have states that have to have their voting laws preapproved by the justice department. that is another story. but for right now, there are 30 states that have laws on the books. and that seems to be increasing. host: melanie eversley from usa today, our guest to talk about voter i.d. laws. if you want to ask her questions, here are the numbers.

miss eversley, this story, or at least earlier this week is what we are talking about. but even earlier today, a story out of ohio is saying that a wider varon -- wider early voting has been restored. can you elaborate on that process? i guest: do not know the details of the ohio decision, but i do know that early voting has been another one of the issues that folks on both sides of this debate have been looking out. early voting was an issue in florida, and some other state. there were also issues about allowing people to register in church. basically, that is one of the way some people believe will make it because -- make it easier for people to vote if we have earlier voting. that has also become a partisan

debate. host: and you said, pennsylvania had a hard time making sure that people who needed photo id got one. how are other states handling this issue? guest: i'm sorry, can you repeat the question? host: how do other states make sure that people get access to a and dedication, especially if their state requires it? guest: the issue has been money, at least in terms of the argument. some states have made it so that people will not have to pay in order to have 90 and on vacation. -- to have an identification. some states are looking at online registration. i believe, california and connecticut have adopted that, if i'm not mistaken. and i think something like eight states have that in place. it will make it easier for people to register.

host: our first call for our guest is from boyars down, pennsylvania, republican line. go ahead. caller: good morning pedro. good morning, melanie. and you said in pennsylvania that there was no voter i.d. lot. the voter i.d. law was upheld, but it will not be placed into effect for this november's election. is that correct? guest: that is right. host: basically, you interest -- caller: basically, you introduced it as a partisan thing. but isn't it that a lot of states are just trying to make sure it is one person-one vote and that by approving who you are and will make it easier to assure that each person only gets one vote? rather than trying to disenfranchise orson -- story

out of ohio is saying or make it seem like these laws are trying to attend to to disenfranchise a group of voters. it isn't it really preventing the disenfranchisement of all voters by making sure that one person gets one vote? guest: sure, that has been part of the debate. one side of the argument is that we do have to make sure that there is one-person, one-vote, there is no voter fraud or identity theft. on the other side of the debate there is what we were that one person gets one vote? talking about earlier, that some of these laws may seem to prevent some people from getting to the polls. there are two sides to the argument. i know that some of the nonpartisan organizations have been monitoring this all along and keeping track of what is happening with different states. they say that on either side, the evidence they produce sometimes is credible and

sometimes not. there seems to be a kind of evening out there. that has been part of the debate. host: if your on twitter is asking about, or at least say in the argument that we have heard on this network that you probably need identification i you -- to do almost anything in the u.s. in one thing you can do without id. guest: i have heard people in the street saying that. that is part of the debate also a, you know, you need identification to get on a plane, to do lots of things. but when you look at the broader picture and get different people's situations in our country, you have, for example, people who grew up in the rural south, perhaps people of color who were born at home and do not have a birth certificate.

they have lived their lives without identification. you have the disabled, where it may be a little bit more difficult for them to do all of the running around involved in getting an identification. and you have various people that for whatever reason they do not have identification and they have been able to get along without it. and when you look at the numbers -- i think i actually have some here. when you do look at the numbers, 23% of african-americans, 16% of but when you look at the broader latinos, and 8% of white americans have no government- issued id. for the majority of americans it may seem natural and normal to have an identification, but the reality is there are a number of people who still do not have them. host: here is grace from ohio on

the democrat's line. let me push a button. lasard, go ahead. caller: i'm from the old south. i come from before fdr. are you still there? host: yes, go ahead. caller: i am seeing this country going backwards. in the old south, i was born before fdr. my family was still in the complex clan. or their associates did. blacks did not vote. we would shoot them if they did. they knew their place as women knew their place. host: so the current order id? caller: me tell you about variety. are was born in la berber,

tennessee. my birth certificate says creek, tennessee. there is no creek, tennessee and never has been i was born on my grandfather's farm with plenty of people around. i am one of those people that i finally got myself registered after moving to a new address and i had to fly to get myself registered and i have been voting for over 60 years. host: ms. eversley, any take away from that? guest: you were talking about growing up in the rural south santa the klan and out of thin -- and the plan and that sort of thing. patrick, that is one of the reasons why some of the arguments around this issue have touched a nerve with some americans, particularly civil rights organizations. they relate the voter i.d. laws to some of the things that have happened in years past, such as

literacy tests, poll taxes, against a number of jelly beans in this jar if you like to register to vote. i know that is a comparison that the president of the naacp likes to make. i think it is why at least on one side of this whole argument it has seemed to have touched a nerve with them. host: the comment from twitter says, in illinois, we match signatures. what is wrong with that? guest: maybe you should recall -- propose that then. host: it is another wyda -- way of verifying with a person is. guest: do not know of other states doing that, but it sounds like something that could be viable for some states to examine. host: this is a caller from redwood, calif.. independent line. caller: there does not seem to be active in voter suppression in the united states, contrary

to what has been reported in the mainstream media. i think few people seem to realize to what extent their jobs affect their political lives. the biggest problems that people face today are the burdensome requirements of voting. for instance, in georgia, there is early voting at multiple locations. people will wait three or four hours in order to be able to vote. jobs have changed in this day and age. it should not be that difficult to let people vote of a chronically and by various other means. the fact that jobs have fundamentally changed in the last 20 or 30 years, and the nature and extent of this

problem, people who have these jobs, they hate their jobs. according to one source -- no host: caller, thanks. he put out there the ease of voting a, or the streamlining. can you add to that? guest: i know that is an issue that folks on both sides of the debate have taken a look at. there is a coalition of advocacy organizations who have gotten together and put together an organization called the election protection. i believe their main purpose is to monitor how things are going, and they are taking note of situations that the caller described, you know, long lines or other problems and obstacles

that might get in a way of people voting. i know that there is an awareness of all of this. that a sum that needs to be examined, too. host: we are all looking at voter identification laws with melanie eversley of usa today. a caller from texas, republican line, good morning. caller: i have a question. it is described as a partisan issue since 2008. and when you mention hawaii as being the first state, i wonder if you have the numbers on which party was in power of the state legislature, or perhaps the governor prior to 2008, if you know which party was predominantly in power. guest: in hawaii? caller: no, for the

thirtysomething states that we have right now. i do not know how many of them have passed laws just recently, but prior to 2008, how many states were a democrat or how many were republican. do you have those numbers? guest: out of the top of my head, but there are a couple of -- not off the top of my head, but there are a couple of organizations that have been doing a phenomenal job publishing this information on the web. what is the national conference of state legislatures. they haven't whole section of their website devoted to a daughter of a vacation. it is a nonpartisan organization. they have at least -- devoted to voter identification. it is a nonpartisan organization. they have at least one whole segment of their website devoted to that. and brennan center for justice, connected to new york state

university cannot -- university, they have a section of their website dedicated to voter dedication. i would refer you to both of those. host: has there been a case of voter fraud, sway an election? heard of. that i have when it has been examined, there have not been many cases. there is an energetic proponent in kansas of oregon vacation. he said in their state between 1997 ordaz -- voter identification. he said in their state between 1997 and 2003 they had several cases. but i have never heard of any situation where an election was overturned because of that. host: here is jim in maryland,

democrats line. caller: i have two points to make. all of this voter fraud, anybody in their right minds note is coming from republicans. just like when bush was running for office. i am down in mississippi and they had 10,000 more votes than the people that actually lived in the town. nobody was prosecuted for that. there were hacking into the voting machines, trying to change the numbers. all of this was going on in the bush administration. and nobody was prosecuted for this stuff. in maryland cannot -- in maryland, we get robo calls from republicans telling blacks to stay home, the voting has been changed, the precinct has been changed. or you vote on thursday or all of this kind of crap.

at the time, we had a republican government and maryland voted him out of office. and i hope they never put republicans back in office. host: ms. eversley, you write in your story -- there is one line that says that the justice cardenaz upheld a the south carolina law -- the justice department has upheld the south carolina law. can you elaborate? guest: i do not want to miss b. a federal court is looking at the south carolina law. i believe, that is the last state hanging in that might have something different in place before election day. but there has been a lot of back and forth on that. host: what is it about a lot specifically that they are looking at? guest: they are looking at whether people of color will be disenfranchised. there are figures that actually show that fewer african-

americans and few were latinos -- and few were latinos have government-issued identification. i do not have the numbers off the top of my head. that is the heart of the issue, whether people will be disenfranchised by this law. host: in new york, agrees on the independent line. caller: this has nothing to do with the voter identification. but i have to get an id. i went to the bank and i have been doing business with this bank for over 30 years. and a lady pulled me aside and said, you know, you are going to have to get some kind of a dedication. we can ... kind of identification. and we cannot let you keep doing this. one day, you will come in here and i will not be here. i go to the motor vehicles. we get there before it opens up. i wait in line at about 25 minutes.

i'm handed a piece of paper. i felt the paper heart. and the next thing i know the place is so packed you cannot even move. then i called to get in a line. and i handed the papers. he is mad at me that i'm -- because i'm not handing him the papers fast enough. and then he tells me to go sit down if i have everything together. by then, already is. -- i'm already angry. i told him, giving you the papers when you ask for them. he tells me to go sit down. you come when your number is called. you cannot even find a seat now. then you have your never called. then you stand in line again the man, he took my papers and he took the papers from the other gentleman. come to find out, he checked something twice that should not have been checked. he had to take it all the way back to the first gentleman. host: caller, what lessons can

be applied to order a vacation? -- voter identification? caller: i do not think you need to bring all of that stuff. you can start something in the end of something and then say, all of a sudden, you've got to have these identification's. host: thank you, caller. and you have a response, ms. eversley? guest: with the pennsylvania law that was being reviewed, i know a number of the news organizations in that state have a lot of anecdotal stories about people having similar experiences, you know, going through a lot of red tape, a lot of people that did not leave their homes often, perhaps because of their health or something else. what she describes is pretty

similar to what was taking place in pennsylvania. host: houston, texas, republican line, keith. caller: good morning. the people in texas decided at through the legislative process that we wanted was taking place in pennsylvania. to institute voter identification. when the naacp had their convention in my hometown of houston, texas, in order for people to enter the facility to the convention center, they had to show identification to hear the speaker. it is such a farce about disenfranchising voters. you cannot even go to the library or a facility like a courthouse without a voter i.d.. i can see it firsthand in texas. we have 20 million illegal aliens in our country.

if you have a utility bill and you show it to them, that is just encouraging illegal aliens in our country. guest: you were talking about the whole immigration issue. that definitely has dovetailed with this. the secretary of state in kansas has been nationally known as an energetic voter i.d. proposed -- proponent and he has also been known as having what would be considered tough stances on emigration. when he has discussed the possibility of voter fraud, he

talked about his stay examining their role and they found that they found a large number of undocumented immigrants. i know those two issues have dovetailed. host: according to the map we're looking at, there are about 18 states in the united states that don't have voter identification loss, california being one. guest: i have not heard anything from states that do not have laws. and there has been a word that california just passed a law -- either that you can register online or registered the day of the election or it might be both. california has a democratic-

controlled legislature and the context in which i read this said those two methods of making it easier for people to cast ballots, those are two methods that more and more states are looking at. the piece that i read suggested that this was the democratic way of giving some push back to the voter i.d. issue. host: if you go to the state of alabama, our next call is from alabama, democrats line. caller: why do you does not have - i think it was the speaker of the house of the state of pennsylvania and it was

used in the court case that they had where he made the statement that the voter i.d. law had ties that would give the state of pennsylvania to mitt romney. he said this has been done. why would that not be shown in part of this? i think the percentage of the voter fraud in the last election was 000.3. host: thank her for that call. -- thank you for that call. the caller asked about the space of about the court case that we will see if we can get a response. indiana, independent line, good

morning. caller: all the money spent on the voter i.d., why don't they just go ahead and get set up with a fingerprint or i recognition? -- or eye recognition? host: we will see if our guest can respond to that. guest: i think i cared most of the question. i don't want to speak for legislators but i know that cost has been an issue in some places. in fact, in minnesota, the secretary of state i believe made some statement that the voter i.d. low would cost $50 million to implement. it might be cost prohibitive. from what i have read, some

republican legislators are taking him to task for making that statement. cost has been an issue in some places. host: thomasville, ga., our republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, my question follows up a little of what you just said. why isn't there an initiative to judge -- to just laws to groups of people that choose not to have an id? why don't you send those resources putting forth to them that it is the responsible thing to do. not having an identification is ridiculous. you can get that. a lot of these groups figure out ways to get their government benefits and figure out ways to get their government telephones and all that. they can figure out a way to get a voter i.d.

it is rancorous in dealing with government agencies. it is a lot of trouble. we spend more time talking to the government to make things easier. if people have cell phones, there is a way. there has got to be a way to get identification to people and not have it so spend three hours at the department of transportation getting identified. guest: i was thinking about a conversation i had recently with one of my frequent sources in this debate. he was saying that the ideal situation would be for people who don't have idea that someone from the government knock on their door and give them an id then everybody is happy. the reality is that you have

people live in different kinds of circumstances, may be places where transportation is not easy, a lot of things are cost prohibitive and day to day like this cost prohibitive. that may make it difficult to get id. host: if the voter i.d. law in pennsylvania does not go into effect this election, is guaranteed to go into the next cycle? guest: my understanding it would be for 2013. host: taylor, mich., democrats line, hello. caller: i want to thank you cspan. my uncle was a world war two veteran.

for him to fight against the nazis, they took away the right to vote. george bush was appointed in 2000. i did not hear the republicans complain about that or 2004. he said airbus man came back -- he said if us man came back to this country, we would not recognize it. host: what about the voter i.d. topic? caller: it's ridiculous. alabamae the man from who said we have this wrapped up for romney and pennsylvania. guest: i know that was part of

the debate. there is a video circulating of a piece of the speech where he seems to be making that statement. that certainly is something that civil rights organizations 0.2 as proof -- point to that the debate is more than voter fraud. it is about what happens in november. when the pennsylvania decision broke a few days ago, i attempted to contact the gentleman and was not able to reach him. i know that was considered kind of like a smoking gun to people on one side of the debate as proof it was about more than just voter i.d.. host: church bill, new york,

independent line, good morning. caller: good morning, my question is one of consistency. i take a voting rights very seriously. just as i take gun rights very seriously. do the same people who support not having to show i.d. to vote also support not showing idea to purchase a gun? they're both constitutional rights. aren't these people being disenfranchised if they have to show i.d. to purchase a gun? the same groups that support no voter i.d., are they on the same side of supporting not having to show i.d. to buy a gun? guest: i would not say it is that cut and dried. in both debates, you generally

seem to have democrats taking a questioning look at the voter i.d. laws. in terms of the gun debate, you have democrats who are pushing more gun control. to them, from what i have seen, the issue is more about -- more than about identification. it is about what is happening in a number of urban areas were gun violence is out of control like coup -- like chicago. it was an example this last summer of repeated violence taking place. that is the big picture they're looking at when they argue for more gun control. host: one more call from redding, calif., on a republican line. caller: hi, i have a question

and a brief comment. my question is for your guest. i would like to know if she knows anything about the voter integrity project. my comment is regarding getting a photo id for voting. it really cannot be that difficult. for heaven's sake, we have a 16 year olds who can get a driver's license. frankly, i do not understand how some of these people who say they cannot get a photo id have gotten through life without any type of identification for many things. in your daily life, you have to do this for many things. the caller previously made a good point. i would like to say that probably many of the people who cannot get a voter i.d. probably don't go through the legal process to obtain a firearm either.

guest: you mentioned the voter integrity project. i have never heard of it. i am intrigued. after i leave here, i will look it up on the internet. host: now that we have the decision from pennsylvania, what is the next chapter in this story of voter i.d. in the united states? with election day being so close? guest: south carolina is the last one that everybody is looking at. on the civil rights side of the debate, the civil rights organizations that have been against the voter i.d. laws, they don't feel that they can xl but they feel happy about the couple of victories they have had in pennsylvania and texas. south carolina is the next one we are looking at.

you've got some states now looking at laws where you can register on the day of a legend or on line. -- on the day of the election or on line. that will be important for this election but i believe there are five states looking at that for the next election cycle. host: you can find her writing on usa.com and she wrote the story on the pennsylvania voter i.d. case, thank you. coming up, we will take a look at the voting process for active duty military personnel. our guest is from concerned veterans of america and we will be right back.

>> governor, you said in july you would -- someone has to explain to you what the vice president does every day. you said you would not be vice- president under any circumstances. maybe this is what was going on at the time. [laughter] looking forward, what do you think the vice presidency is worth now? >> my comment was little lame and a joke. of course we know what a vice- president does. >> which one did and they get? [laughter] >> we know what a vice-president does. we take that position very seriously also. i wish the constitution would allow more authority given to the vice-president. we want to make sure we're supportive of the president's policies and making sure our

president understands what our strengths are. john mccain and i have had good conversations about where i would lead with his agenda. that is energy independence in america and reform of government over all. and then working with families of children with special needs which is near and dear to my heart for it in those agreements, john mccain has tapped me and said that is where he wants me to lead. i cannot wait to get there. >> i hope we will get back to education because i don't know any government program that john supported in education. the reason that no child was left behind is that the money was left behind. with regard to the role of the vice-president, i had a long talk, as i'm sure the governor did with her principle and in my case it is barack obama and he asked me -- i have a history of getting things done the senate and john mccain will back that

up. i would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the united states congress for our administration. when asked if i wanted a portfolio, my response was no, barack obama said he wants me with and to help in government. for his decision, i will sit in the room and give him my best advice. one of the things he said early on when he was choosing, he said he wanted to pick someone who had independent judgment and would not be afraid to disagree. that is my reputation so i look forward to working with barack obama and playing a very constructive role in his presidency, bringing about the kind of change this country needs. >> we will have more from the 2004 debate along with three other vice presidential debates.

it all starts a 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> [video clip] "continues -- >> host: our next guest has turned -- served as a gunnery sergeant in the marines. guest: thank you for having me. host: can you tell me what it is like for active duty person to go to the process of voting? guest: i went overseas four different times and moved nine times in 20 years. i was only offer the opportunity to register by absentee ballot one time in those 20 years. while you're on active duty, is mission first. you are hustling and constantly doing something to prepare to defend this country. you go into the field a lot. you are actively participating in combat operations that are a

simulated combat. everything is organized represents that type of thing. mail delivery gets slow down and you don't know if you always have internet access and you don't have your cell phone. a lot of that did not exist when i was in the marines. time submitted very difficult for active duty military to make sure their absentee ballots find them because they are constantly moving. host: somebody offered you the ballot? guest: you have to apply for absentee ballots. you have to register yourself. while i was on active duty, the military has voting assistance officers. registration was on somebody's mind and want to make sure people got around to register to vote but that was only one time and i was stationed stateside at camp pendleton for the tours i served overseas four times, i have never recalled even knowing who the voting

assistance officer was or how you register to vote for it if either did not happen or it passed me by. host: how does the government ensure that those on active duty get to the point where they can apply and fill out the forms to make sure their vote counts? guest: we passed a law called the move act. military overseas voter enactment. there were laws established with an overseas voting movement and a lot of that was not functional so we had to take it up a notch in 1986. the department of defense have an awesome -- an office call fsap and a handle all overseas military registration. it has been running in effectively four years. it was ineffective while i was on board and is still ineffective.

in 2009, i testified in front of a senate armed services committee -- a congressional arms services committee, and i explained in a nutshell what i just told you about how difficult it was to be able to register and i offered ideas of what we need to do to modify that. we've got to get more opportunity for these people to get an office available for them to check into their new duty station that will help them to register to vote and inform them on whether state laws and deadlines are. you become oblivious why you're on active duty. next thing you know, it is election time and you needed to know about the six months earlier when you were in the field. host: there is a story from the "military *." times"

guest: that is just astonishing. this law passed in 2009 and it required by federal law that every installation had a voting assistance office established. it was supposed to be established by 2010. many of them did not get set up until 2011 in direct conflict with the federal law. they're not held accountable and then the inspector general went out to do research to find out what was available and he could only find half of all the 229 bases, overseas bases, not even states side, they did not have voter assistance. they had to have a hearing less than a month ago which i witnessed and watched that was addressing why they have not done this. fsap is part of the department of defense.

they felt that their mission. the hearing was very interesting. they had justification's why they did not do it. about thee talking military boating campaign 2012. if you want to call and ask a question, the lines are on your screen -- we have spent -- set aside a special line for military personnel. is this a partisan issue? guest: it should be a partisan issue. everyone on active duty came from all of the families in america. i did not feel like it was a republican or democratic topic. anybody on active duty as one thing in common, they love this country. they should have some voice to

insure that their freedom is supported. nobody knows better what is going on overseas sometimes. they are the boots on the ground. their boat is significant. host: there's a story today in the paper looking at ohio. guest: that astonishes me that people want to prevent active duty military from being able to get their ballots earlier. when you are overseas, you will not get your mail in two days. sometimes it takes up to 20 days. we're talking about submarines, the fields of afghanistan, the island of okinawa.

it is remote and your mail delivery is so slow that if it takes me 20 days to get a ballot, i am not aware of where i feel about the election cycle when you're talking about your next commander in chief. i want to be able to think ahead and i need that time. give me my ballot so that i know i can vote. what astonishes me is don't we have bigger battles to fight with laws and legislature than to prevent our active-duty military from having the opportunity to vote early? i am astonished that time has been wasted as well as text their resources fighting an issue that sounds like a no- brainer. when you want to start comparing it to other groups they feel need special assistance, if they volunteer to serve this country and they are sent overseas by the central government, they need to insure they have the opportunity to host: here is the

first call for minneapolis, minnesota, republican line. caller: i have a couple of points to make. why on earth have you not had a show regarding what happens over in libya with the two navy seals? if this was under a republican administration, you would have had days of this. there's so much going on there and there is a much we don't know. there is a case where someone was elected, our senator al franken, when the election first ended, coleman was a head for -- was dead for -- host: stick to the topic. ♪ caller: you interrupted me. democrats tried not to allow the overseas military both in florida. i think it is disgraceful that they won felons to both of our dear soldiers who are willing to

put their life on their line for america, they step in the way and make it difficult for them to vote. cspan need to do a show of libya and what happens to our tortured ambassador. guest: what happened in flore was pretty much a catalyst that got a lot of awareness out there. the ballots were not getting counted on time. i will not get involved in a partisan issue on that because this has happened under both democratic and republican administrations. we all have to take ownership of this. the military has been around and overseas for almost 60 years. for us to now be at the point where we realize we still don't have their boat being counted, let's work as a bipartisan unit and get this done. the debacle in florida, i will not blame either party but the system is broken and it should not have happened. why don't we fix the process?

host: democrats line, a word, florida. caller: i have a few things to say -- below the revenues pipper just now about the military not being able -- the law that you read in the newspaper about the military not be able to vote -- the situation is they wanted to stop everybody from voting early except for them. they are trying to discourage other minority groups from voting but they wanted to keep that in. i agree with you that it is tit- for-tat and everybody should have been able to vote early. they could not just take out one particular group. they should have just kept it as it was.

in the voter i.d. -- i don't know if the military is this way, too, but they wanted a particular idea. everybody in this country has an id. they wanted a particular idea that in pennsylvania people did not have. guest: in ohio, that is not correct. early voting goes on. people can request absentee ballots. the situation in ohio is that they wanted additional time for the military. based on the circumstances, their ballots have to go in greater distance. the reality for them is they have to face it more difficult standard and situation. i agree we cannot go tit-for-tat and everybody has to have an opportunity to vote. if you are on active duty, they have to show id to be able to download their ballots. they are presenting id to vote.

active military personnel should not be penalized because i have a greater need to get their ballots in earlier. if they are in the field when those ballots arrive, they may not have an opportunity to download it. they need that additional time because of circumstances providing for our country and that is not only a bipartisan issue, it is all races, creeds, colors, and gender is an active duty. we need to support our military so they can support voting for the next commander in chief. host: what about a paper ballot while you are in the field? guest: every state has different laws. it is not set up with one unified system. some states have offered the ability to download your ballot on line. if i'm in the field and i don't necessarily have access to the internet, that could be cumbersome. i may want to get my ballot early before i leave for the field. i could get it down but it and

have it and get mailed out from the field may be three or four weeks out. there are other states that have to mail it out. a paper ballot going overseas -- the department of justice was terrible and forcing block in 2010. there were 15 states granted waivers by the department of defense. the department of justice is supposed to enforce them. the most egregious states word new york and illinois. they did not get the ballots out until three weeks before the election for overseas voters. here with got the department of justice not taking them to task. a lot of those ballast never got received back on time even if they had additional time. they did not enforce getting them sent out. host: how do you know your bell admitted back to your state? guest: that's why you want to register through the mail and

send it back by expedited service which has been authorized by fsap. that way, you can track it on line and you know it has been received. i would never recommend anybody taking a postage stamp and sticking it in an envelope. host: we set aside a line for military personnel. we have retired military from georgia, go ahead. caller: i retired in 1991. we had a voter registration and voter officer in almost all of the units i served over 30 years. i did not see that as a problem. apparently, it has changed over the years.

since we've gotten the military so involved, when i was there, the military could not participate in political affairs publicly and particularly its uniform but they encouraged that everybody would vote. now understand that under the new voter i.d. laws, i was told that in some cases, they are shifting id's from people who don't have an expiration date. i retired in 1991 and i have had the same id card for 21 years. guest: sergeant major, thank you for your service. i served on active duty the same time you did. i retired in 2004 and i joined

in 1984. i am revealing my age now -- there are voting assistance officers on every duty station. if you are working in the battalion headquarters or company headquarters, you might be aware of who that is. i was a logistics marine which meant i was driving a tractor trailers, served the infantry, hold all over the state of california or in open now, japan and did massive field time. i had no awareness of who the voting assistance officer was, what my deadlines were to get registered to vote. there was no awareness or training. i think everybody and acted to the can agree that there are opportunities in the military to do mandatory training. everybody knows taxes are due on april 15. we set up tax centers on the

base three months prior and we take active duty military personnel off their regular duties and they go in and assist people with their taxes. you have people assisting with federal and state taxes. we provide nothing of the sort for voting registration. the move act was supposed to get offices set up on the basis. everybody could have gone in to check in with that voting assistance officer. that has never been in place while we were on active duty. we don't want a stack of voter registration ballots sitting on a counter somewhere. we want them to physically go in and say whether they want to register or not. this is the only way we can track it and find out if it is sure apathy which i find hard to believe. or is it just not having access? host: there is a project called a military voter protection project and they compared 2008

ballot requests and 2012 ballot requests and looking at key states, they thought there was a great difference as far bell requests. do you believe there is a significant difference? guest: this is horrific. i follow this very closely. they have chapman university doing a lot of their research and they are: voting offices. the move act is not been enforced. we were supposed to get these problems out of the way back in 2010 election. we expected by 2012, all the kings would be worked out. there should be no states requesting waivers. the biggest problem the department -- it's a part of defense. they are not enforcing with me to be doing. they claimed how great a system they have.

the have a grid system on line but for people to physically go in and look for the ballot. that is great if they are internet savvy. by the time it hits people, it is too late, probably by september or october. in the civilian world, we can walk into a department of motor vehicles office or a social services office and we can even walk into recording station -- i've heard they have offered opportunities for people to vote. when you are on active duty in the military, there is no way to go unless they have those of us is set up. i don't mean an officer who has five other things to do. if they do collateral duty, it means they are not graded on performance of that extra duty. they need to allocate about money to get this accomplished which is a blatant dishonest statement. they have $75 million over the

past three years allocated to them. $46 million a lot to get this set up in 2011 and they have managed to perfect their internet and voting? internet registration. they managed to post some of the deadlines falsely. the minister the deadline was posted erroneously. -- the minnesota it deadline was posted erroneously. they had to get that adjusted. fsap is not enforce the rules. had we done this by 2010, 2012 would be running smoothly. right now, we have no way to know if people have asked to register to vote for it most of these boating's assistance officers, there are maybe half we could find of the 229 basis. they're not set up a reasonable location. when you check in on base, you don't go to the chapel. why would they scituate

reservoir with a situates the offices next to a chapel? when you check into the military, you're given a long checklist. you have to check into medical, dental, records transferred, you have to go in and see the paperwork because you want to get paid on time. at that time, you change your life insurance policy, you make sure your family is taken care of, your will -- all the things that are like changing decisions. voting can be tied into that. they could ask if you want to register in your home state and you can get your records transferred. they allow you the opportunity and get the paperwork and you fill it out that you are set. you don't have to worry about it or they download it for you. if that is not afforded in the hustle and bustle of life of being an active duty military person, i rarely sat still.

most people would have had an aneurysm with moving nine times in 20 years. you're not thinking i need to get registered six months out. the deadline comes in your disenfranchise. active-duty military is the most disenfranchised group of voters in the united states today bar none. host: guest: you've got to deal with the secretary of state. there are states rights in state demanded how they want to run their voting process. your military i.d. while you were on active duty, this is the way it was set up, is that the card you have gets swept which identifies you and you are able to download your balance of the know it is you. it is up to you to get it mailed

out. even in the civilian world, they can be subjected to fraud. the ballots now that to your house. there are those concerns. absentee ballots had been around for some time. the voter i.d. that the military uses is there voter i.d. card. they still have to go in and download and register. you are not automatically registered three or id card. host: tampa, fla., independent line, go ahead. caller: 94 cspan. -- thank you for cspan. there should be no question they should have the opportunity to vote. i think one of the largest claims is that the army as an all volunteer army forces. usually that means you work for free. if you are a volunteer, wouldn't

you like toun-volunteer? i think they should cut the defense budget by 25% until we cut down about half of our military installations worldwide. guest: what was the last comment tax host: he said to cut the defense budget. guest: as far as volunteer goes, that is a loose term. we do volunteer to join. we're not in a draft. there is a difference with that wording. we're not volunteering ou time but we have volunteered to serve. that means we did not get cast by a draft and thank god there are people who want to do this because it is not an easy life and the dedication to serve our country is tough. if we are a volunteer to join, it would not be realistic for someone to be dedicated to the type of work i was doing to required to do that with no pay. that would be unrealistic.

with a boating, they have volunteered to serve their country and willingly get sent wherever their country chooses to send them. they will do a job that the country has decided that they will do. do you think i wanted to be a tractor-trailer driver? i did it quite well because i volunteered to join. many individuals of decisions you can make on individual duty but the opportunity to vote is critical. it is not a political move. voting is your right as a u.s. citizen to participate in the voting process. host: jacksonville, fla., on our line for military members -- caller: i just got back from afghanistan two months ago. i was in iraq in 2008. i don't think there is an issue

with the ballot system. every soldier i had in my command was able to get a ballot if you want to. the issue is the fact that there is a lot of interest in the military. maybe if you would respond to that -- as someone who has a law degree, [inaudible] i don't think the military members should take any type of benefits when the constitution is violated. host: before you leave, you talked about the lack of interest, can you expand on that deck guest: i think there is some much other stuff going on in the military -- if you are deployed, your word about your family and your personal safety.

after this last to plummet, -- last deployment, there was a priority placed on replace and voting by officers. if you're in it for our location and your personal safety, family, finances -- they are all more of a concern. people are just not as interested. guest: i agree there is at the foreboding but i see that out here also -- i agree that there is that they but i see that out here also. active-duty apathy is not as significant as many would think. those not interested in voting may know people who are not interested. people like myself for always interested. i agree that you are hustling around and you forget or you are not aware of what your boater dead -- registration deadline is.

i always clued in the last month or so. i was paying attention and that's when it hit me that i get the deadline. you're not 247 thinking about voting but if you check into your next to the station and your afforded the opportunity to register, that apathy could be overcome easily. the average guy or gal wants to go but they forget to. the person who is determined to don both doesn't have to register. i would suggest and i suggest that the bulk of active-duty military would be more than happy to register. once they get the ballot, they will probably turn around and make sure they submit it. you will not have a 1 audra% voting rate. 22% of nearly 2.6 million military boats or in the election of 2006. that is half.

i find it incredibly difficult to believe that somebody on active duty is more or less interested. how could you be more apathetic than someone not serving the country? host: what to organizations do to get ballots to the military- guest: the deadlines for the ballot was last saturday, 45 days before the election. bacon called voter registration offices in their local communities. -- they can call voter registration offices in their local communities. if you know somebody on active duty, asked them if you were afforded the opportunity to vote. send out an e-mail blast. we want the active-duty military to be encouraged to vote based on the fact that life is so chaotic that sometimes you have to be encouraged that this is

your time to register. a look at the amount of e-mail traffic i get daily and often i have to address issues that are pertinent to my next promotion or getting fired and they get my answers first. call your local voter registration and ensure that issues in which the military is considered, you are elected officials that support them and encourage them to participate in the voting process. find out what concerns you have and record those concerns. there's a great website for the voter protection policy. they have set up here.org where you can -- he rose heroes.org where you can register. they will use a generic name and

you don't talk about politics much a military but you do in voting. host: guest: voting on active duty while you are stationed overseas is an absentee paper ballot. to many systems have been hacked into that have been electronic systems. i believe several years back, washington, d.c. tried to do that within the first 15 minutes, the website was hacked and manipulated. paper ballots is the only way they can track and see that these votes were not manipulated or altered. receiving it can be electronic but sending it has to be paper. host: here is a tweed -- guest: that is simply paranoia.

i down team -- i don't mean to make humor of that but a lot of people feel that way about absentee voting. i can understand concerns. i don't mean to diminish and the concerns that you have to get realistic. if you want to vote in the process, you have to participate in the system. it is the best we have now. host: stafford, virginia, republican line, go ahead caller: thank you for your 20 years of service to our country. i'm a mother of two marines, both infantry and one is currently in afghanistan right now. i can tell you that it has been extremely difficult for him to try to get a ballot. my son has called. he is able to facebook but unfortunately, he is not able to get a ballot. he is in the thick of things.

i don aware that last caller was coming from where they seemed like they were not interested. my son who is a marine is telling me that they want to vote for it they don't have the accessibility to do that. you just answered my question before. i was wondering why we cannot have ballots available on every single base. they might be in afghanistan or iraq, they should have that opportunity to go in and placed ballots for their state and have it heard. guest: thank you for having two sons serving in the amount ignited states marine corps. that's has a lot about you as a mother. it takes a certain kind of individual to serve in the united states marine corps. it is a driven and difficult branch of the service. i wanted to clarify what the difficulty was.

if they go to the fsap web site, they can get their ballots to the state but that the states are doing it with paper ballots, unfortunately, they have to get it now about 45 days in advance. if they have difficulty getting access to the internet, i understand the frustrations. when you're on the front lines, you're not walking around with internet access. you don't have time to do that. i can appreciate the frustration. there is an absentee ballot form that they can download if they never receive their military ballot. i mean there state ballot. i did not hear about this until after active duty. it is a paper ballot for absentee registration for military voters and they are able to download it and i have to go to the fsap website.

bacon and fried in the candidates they want to support and get it mail back -- they can fill in the candidates they want to support and get it mailed back. the boat will be counted. i apologize that the system is still broken. we still have a lot of work to do. host: guest: that's probably why i was afraid of it. host: we're running short on time. let's get straight to more questions. caller: good morning, i served when our marines were killed in lebanon. i served in a support unit and i knew we would support that war and it did not happen. i still feel to this day that if we had tech about the way we

should have and i think we should have hit mahmoud ahmadinejad, we would not be in the mess we are today with the middle east. you do not have america. if you hit america, we will get you. i wanted to vote to after that. the only way we can make a difference it is if we get to vote. guest: and not sure what to comment on. i am glad that international affairs have motivated people to vote. there will be those who are apathetic and most often, absolutely, people out there on the front lines are more motivated because they either want to resolve the current situation or they see something that can get a good commander in chief to make sure they are not in harm's way. host: what about an opt out voter registration in which they are automatically registered

unless they don't want to? guest: they have to be able to find you. states' rights have the abilities to have laws in place for voter registration. if there is a form where you can register, i don't think that would be in compliance with state laws. that probably is not an option. host: bill from michigan, independent line. caller: i want to comment in reference to the gunnery sergeant paused suggestion that the military is exceedingly disadvantaged or the most disadvantaged class of voter. if you are an overseas american non-military, you get absolutely no support for voting for what is a very complex and tedious process. i support the efforts to bring the writing -- the voting rights to military personal but that

same level of effort should extend to other americans who are posted overseas for various reasons. guest: the difference between an oversees voter who is normally oversees is that is by their own choice. there is 2.6 million active-duty military people at any given time stationed overseas not by their own decision. their mailing address will change multiple times. most overseas voters who are non-military, their circumstances are entirely different. they are also covered by all built laws that i helped pass. the move act supports overseas voters. all of those people got wrapped into best because of a bipartisan effort to get these laws passed. it oversees voters are not getting the ballots also, they

have the same protection that active-duty military does. i disagree that they would be the most disenfranchised. a large population of the military overseas is over there in massive numbers compared to u.s. citizens who have chosen to live overseas of their own accord. host: guest: that probably would be -- you have to have polling stations and people to watch and make sure there is not voter fraud going on. you have a federal right in ballot. there is a federal right in ballot for the military but will not cover the local elections. all acted to be stationed overseas, if you don't get your ballot, go and find a federal in ballot.

if you're not registered to vote, it will not count. that is available but it will mark cover your local elections. host: we have one more call from fayetteville, north carolina. caller: i agree 100%. i was in the military, in the army and served eight years. i recently got back from afghanistan. there was no information for servicer reserve service members in afghanistan. the post of his had no idea when to send the absentee voting ballots because there were not clear on how they need to gather the bags and send it back to the united states. united states.